Kim-Kwang-Seok

I was expecting this to happen with the last Marvel series. If it does, there's simply not going to be so much demand anymore. Back when CMF's were 2,5 I saw them in every store - now there's several old ones still left but from observation as well as asking employees it seems many stores don't even buy the new blind bags anymore. 100% price increase is a bit much within 6 years... Especially as many of them don't have that broad appeal outside of america.

I also did. I didn't watch the show but I love the CMF figure (just switched the black legs with dark metal grey ones). Without knowing anything about the fuzz that she's supposed to be a dark character or something - just the design looks so much better with a less comical face

I guess promobircks (who provided the leaks) were just not describing the variety. Except for the water snakes we did get at least always 2 sets of prints! Anyway, I do find it cool we get the snake heads in different colours (4 so far?!) but the designs and prints overall are not my cup of tea. Fingers crossed this year I can finally save money!!

I still feel like the overall quality is down since quite a few series (number of special prints and dual molding) BUT this seems like a step up. More special figs, more unique, less "City like". The dancer feels weirdly underdetailed. I mean if not for the hairpiece it's only a torso print as far as I can see. This kind of figure would screem for metalic leg and arm side printing. But who knows - maybe the ice skates are new. I'm especially happy about the dual moled legs from the explorer, raccoon and the blue guitar guy. Great reusability! I've been tempted so often to remove prints of some dual moled legs (which I never tried before) because so many times there's awkward skin tone which makes it useless for most figures. Also 5 female figs, 4/5 male figs and two which I wouldn't determin (alien + robot). That's the best ratio so far! I would even argue that with the recent trend for more diverse hairpieces we are pretty much covered. I think there's enough hairpieces but not enough recolours! I'd be fine if we were to get all the 500 hairpieces of the last years in as many colours as possible, instead of reusing the same 10 always over and over again or making new ones which disappear again!

sometimes it's weird and they just reuse the same 7 prints while 1-2 are staying almost exclusive, even though they'd fit better instead of having 2 different characters in the same universe with the same face print. But for the most part one print will appear in at least 1-2 sets again.

I have no idea why it turned out this way - maybe their financial issues, warehouse issues or they just don't see the sales with them high quality figures - but for me the decline in quality for figs other than CMF's is one of the biggest reasons why I decreased my Lego spending like 5 times (my wallet is thankful though!). When the first dual molded legs and regular arm printing for Wonder Woman with the Zack Znyder Batman movie came out I thought "if we can just get printing on them, it'll be perfect! I thought this will be the future of figures - but no. We got a lot better with the Lego movie 2 and of course the Batman movie - probably the best printing quality and detail ever. But afterwards I guess that buget for detail just dissapeared. We see some dual molding and arm printing here and there but if you don't get one specific set like the queer eyes apartement - the quantity of sets are a huge step back in terms of printing quality and dual molding.

Zanes suit looks like the one which was leaked some time ago. As for Snakes: I don't see any parts that I'd want so happy to save some money! The last years of ninjago have been tough on my wallet anyway But good anyway that the base colour is orange and not just a complete reuse of the s11 snake head piece.

Pretty cool build! In this regard I feel like the huge size and high price make sense. Having a cycle or flyer for 1-2 figures for 60-130 bucks is just weird in terms of functionality. But this thing really comes close to some colourful spaceship MOC's!

The chinese new year sets have leaked - one set has a medevil dress-style outfit for some guy - due to its colour combination of dark red and dark azur I would love to get it somehow and use for an old Nya figure or so. Also cool to see how they are reusing the ninjago armor pieces again in different colours! those two armor pieces from s8 and from Legacy are available now in quite a few colours!

Really cool sets! And I love that they are doing something new every year - this time with vignettes and the iceplates! I just feel like the price could be cheaper. I could buy a huge (good quality wooden) buddah statue cheaper than this. Maybe I try to get the opal ice plates to create something of my own.

Being impressed by the Thanos design and character I was getting the Sanctuary ship and the comic style figure (on heavy sale, ship is also pretty cool and unique build!). Originally I wanted to use the comic-style Thanos and use it as a base for the infinity war outfit. Interestingly I ended up using the Clone Wars Ahsoka torso with a golden armor piece from ninjago and dual molded legs - looks really good! I don't have any filickr yet to post pictures but if anyone has the existing figures, I really recommend the combination!

the first winter wave fig leaked (from Star Wars). I hope we get some ninjago leaks soon so we get some idea of the new style.

You mention one of the factors which I think is part of the downfall of this brand. In the last years we saw TLG desperately trying to open the market further: digital stuff, social media, and Diversity. Yes sorry I'm going to go there: Lego came defacto from a time that used to be much more conservative and excluding in it's depiction of life. I know yellow figures are supposed to be without colour but in reality the only afro piece until the one for Fin Dameron or whatever his name was (Star Wars sequels) was a clown hairpiece. What I mean is that Lego was done for white guys and other people weren't considered. It's ok, different times. But as they already have exploited that group - kids or AFOL's, they try to reach an audience they haven't reached. Of course also due to the media produced which are doing the same thing; Marvels black Panther was a big cash grab. According to rumors the SW characters of Lando and Mace Windu were created for just this reason. Or does anyone think George Lucas cared or knew about the life reality of afro american people in the 70's? I see many people being impressed by things like the grand piano or the TV show sets. People of different backgrounds and people who are no AFOL's. But overall I doubt this is enough. If you look at classic sets, Lego has been outrun by it's competitors already. I don't support them but I have to say the quality is already better (parts, prints, builds, colour consistancy) and due to a lower price they are able to build something worth getting. I'm not saying even it's Legos fault. the alternative brick-brands will also get more expensive with time and Lego probably has it's own heavy structure causing the current prices. I'm just saying I doubt some diversity-AFOL sets will keep them where they are now long term.

I think the ignorance and hating of some people has reached new levels with this critique about the Gunship figs. To begin, I think the idea of a non-minifigscale UCS gunship is a weird choice. Buy people voted for it. And if they would have put a bunch of troopers inside, it would have just been strange. Like you get a bunch of figures to NOT put in your troop transport, as it's too big for them? If people would have went with the frigatte or T-Bomber we would have also just gotten like some pilot, Monmothma or an imp. officer. As stated before: there are little to no new prequel molds for years now. So unfortunately, it's unlikely we get new molds für Cody + pilot - the movies are long gone, not as popular as the OT and the molds would likely be a one-off, as they are too specific for different figs. There is no reason to make a propaganda about Lego hating the prequels, the fans or whatever.

Oh the pre-corona times... I used to get so many awesome printed and special pieces from there. I asked at a store which I could visit sometimes at least but they sait nope since Corona BAM stuff are fixed with 4 pre-built figs and they'll stay that way.

this. I am merely a commenter as I never would hav any desire to get such a set anyway. ... but still: dear Lego designers, either go with a "full studs on one surface"-version or "almost no studs version". Because if you look at a picture or non-Lego models and then at the Lego model - it looks like it has some skin condition or something.. It's an easy fix with tiles, but this I'd only do for a 120 bucks set - not for a 400 or 800€ set... I think this messy way of putting tiles with studs and then again no studs also messes with the texturing. Also I think the window part at the front is really weeird and doesn't look accurate. Compared to alternative brick-brands Lego could really up their game here... ...interior though looks incredible though. And it is a set which deserves a good interior I think.

Well the difference is still that the gunship wasn't minifigscale. So there wasn't much sense in putting a bunch of figures that wouldn't fit inside. Not saying a PII Cody + pilot wouldn't have been very very welcome + long overdue. Just that they require new molds with relatively little use outside of a few possible sets. I think except for the new Padme hair (which was used outside of SW) and the buildable figure heads, we didn't get a new prequel mold in 5 years (just my feeling, correct me if I'm wrong!).

always sad to see how little there is going on when drifting away from the usual themes and topics. I ain't interested in the sets but I am always curious about the creative colourful builds and the cool hairpieces. Indeed! Since some time they really upped their game in this regard.

I really wonder where the market for this stuff is coming from. I assume Lego does their homework (aka research) and know better than me. But my assumption would be that an Avengers tower would be in higher demand compared to a yet again messy and oversized mech. And a building - like the D. Bugle would always need the extra pieces. Like, they could do a decent version of the mech for around 50-60 bucks. Most (way better and still stable) mocs I've seen use less parts than the last official version at least.

I have really bad experience with this kind of merging... but in any case it's basically impossible some project like this would spark Lego sets again. Anyway: As Lego has been a bit more creative with their recent sets and goes more in direction of "adult" builds, I had some ideas: the "book"-builds" from the Harry Potter line for 30 bucks would be perfect to use for Lord of the Rings. I could imagine several iterations for the 3 books + the hobbit. For example a fellowship book with some kind of foldout version of rivendell or Minas Tirith could work.

I was 12 years old. I got like one more set and already felt a bit ashamed of it because you were supposed to become an "adult" and only care about Sex, drinking, appearance, cars, motorcycles and so on. Whenever I ask people about their kids who play Lego (as I give away many of my precious sets often to em); kids seem to phase out of Lego around 12; maximum 14 as well. And that's already just a small minority that is into Lego. Mostly they don't seem to be. Though I know many people without age limit who are always into technic and the more adult builds from blue brixx (alternative "Lego" brand).

This captures the angles way more than bigger sets and curiously it looks quite stable and compact. I think it would make more sense to bring out an UCS set this way for around 200€, instead of 400 something.

Even when figs were not as diverse as in Prime Empire or MoM for example - we always got like at least 2-3 sets of different leg and torso prints. As the Legacy figs are quite undetailed I cann't believe they eat up that much budget. There's clearly a cut in budget for ninjago. I aint complaining - less interesting sets/figs will mean that I can save money for a change ;) But I would be interested in knowing why the budget has been decreased.

Wow, I thought my thread was dead but it escalated quickly There's lots of things to discuss but here it was about price increase of Lego (=toy, hobby). I'd love more debates about wages but I guess this isn't just hard anywhere but especially hard in an international thread about Lego. There's unions you know? Of course in general I would question the future of Lego as a toy due to the economic changes. Which I think is why they are doing more and more "adult" sets and try to touch markets beyond their reach. There's many topics to discuss. Why you don't make a thread if you are interested? (:

I think reusing parts would be and is great - after all ninjago does it more than any other theme. Just the way it's described, we get only one sort of villain, which is less tempting for me to buy sets (good for my partner though; more space ; ). Even if some waves had less variety, with the island we pretty much just had only one henchman with varying head + head gear pieces. Meaning only one set of torso + leg prints. For Prime Empire we got like 3 leg prints, torso prints for the henchmen figs + a bunch of other more special figures. No critique from me - my partner will be happy if there's less money + space for Lego. I'm merely noting the change!